Where Shri stays: Rukmini's question, and the goddess who left the Danavas

Rukmini asks Shri in Krishna's house whom she lives with and whom she leaves, and Shri answers at length. By the Ganga, Narada and Indra watch her come through the sky from the Danavas, and she tells why she left them and with whom she comes.

The story, beat by beat

1. Yudhishthira asks Bhishma where Shri always dwells; Bhishma tells what Rukmini once asked her in Krishna's presence.
2. Shri names the people she stays with: the articulate, the energetic, the grateful, the self-controlled, the woman who keeps her house and her word, the fire that is fed, the cow, the guest.
3. She names the things she rests in: full-blown lotuses, the autumn stars, rain clouds, elephants, cow pens, sweet rivers, thrones, good men.
4. She names those she leaves: the idle, the ungrateful, the harsh of speech, the thief, the hypocrite, the one content with little, the woman who neglects the stores, loves quarrels or sleeps too long.
5. She says she dwells steadfastly in Narayana and that whoever she lives in grows in virtue, fame and wealth.
6. Bhishma tells another: Narada and Indra, bathing in the Ganga, see a radiant goddess coming through the sky; Indra asks who she is.
7. She names herself Padma, Lakshmi, Bhuti, Shri, and says she stayed with the Danavas while they kept duty, charity, truth and respect for elders, and left when sons defied fathers and greed and deceit spread.
8. She asks Indra to receive her and comes with seven companions, Hope, Faith, Intelligence, Contentment, Victory, Advancement and Forgiveness, with Jaya the eighth and foremost.
9. The gods welcome her; rain falls, harvests grow, and people return to right living.

household conduct asuras companions